Create an Interstate Child Welfare Database to Protect Children from Abuse and Neglect

In March 2018, Jennifer Hart drove her family off a California coastal cliff, taking the lives of her six adopted children and spouse as they plunged to the rocky shore below. Their fatal trip occurred just following a child welfare worker's unsuccessful attempt to contact the family at their home.

Only after this tragedy was it revealed that the Hart parents had over the past ten years relocated their children to three different states in an effort to escape a history of child welfare complaints reported in each state they lived. Because currently NO NATIONAL CHILD WELFARE DATABASE EXISTS, each relocation resulted in a different state's child welfare agency responding to the complaints of abuse, unaware of the family's history in other states. With each move, the Hart parents were able to start with a "clean slate", while the children's suffering continued.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.

We must not let the loss of the precious Hart children be for nothing. We must hold child abusers ACCOUNTABLE for their actions - wherever they run. We must PROTECT children who cannot protect themselves.

Sign this petition NOW for the creation of a national child welfare database, or shared access of child welfare data between states, so that child welfare agencies are equipped with COMPLETE and potentially CRITICAL family history when responding to complaints of child abuse and neglect.